1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to card connectors, and more particularly to a card connector, which is compatible with any of a variety of commercially available memory cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional memory card connector, for example, a card connector constructed according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,529 is compatible with three kinds of memory cards, i.e. multimedia card (MMC), secure digital (SD), and smart media (SM). The card connector includes two accommodation portions for receiving different kinds of cards with different external shapes and different contact pads to be inserted into the card connector from one and the same card insertion slot. A plurality of copper strips are provided inside the housing of the card connector for contacting contact pads of an inserted memory card, and are extended to a rear side of the card connector for connecting external circuit means.
The aforesaid prior art design requires much installation space. Further, it is not compatible with other specifications of memory cards, such as compact flash (CF) cards.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is therefore the main object of the present invention to provide a card connector, which requires less installation space. It is another object of the present invention to provide a card connector, which is compatible with any of a variety of commercially available memory cards including MMC, SD, SM, and CF cards.
To achieve the foregoing objects of the present invention, the card connector is composed of a housing, a plurality of contact pins, a plurality of lead wires, and a card receiving connector. The housing includes an open base frame, which is bonded with two PC boards at top and bottom sides thereof and is provided with two receiving open chambers defined between the open base frame and the two PC boards for accommodating different cards. Each of the PC boards has a circuit pattern and a plurality of slots. Each of the contact pins has an end connected to circuits of the PC boards and is partially received in the slots of the PC boards. The lead wires are symmetrically positioned at two sides of the housing and are electrically connected to the circuits of the PC boards. The card receiving connector includes a transversely extending, narrow, elongated base and two longitudinal lateral arms arranged in parallel at two ends of the base. The base of the card receiving connector is provided with a plurality of contact pikes, each of which has an end connecting to the circuits of the PC board. One of the PC boards has a plurality of mounting holes, and the base and the two lateral arms have a plurality of mounting rods. The card receiving connector is fixedly mounted on the PC board by the mounting rods plugging into the mounting holes.